You share images and videos (yes, you can share videos there, in case you hadn’t heard) and allow people to share and comment on them, so Flickr fits into the minimum criteria for being considered a social media site. With that out of the way, why is the site designed to do this:

Social Media Marketing isn’t new. 2008 is simply the year that it emerges as THE thing to do if you want your business, charity, or blog to be “in” instead of “out”.

With companies that aren’t traditionally forward thinking in their marketing techniques, such as Ford Motor Company and Starbucks, making a push to enter social media marketing, it is clear that both big and small business are starting to take notice. Even local businesses are approaching anyone knowledgeable they can find on the subject to help them.

Below are some of the social media initiatives and trends from 2007 that tell of things to come in 2008. First, there are ways to create a web presence that goes beyond building a website or a blog. Then there are ways to drive traffic through social media to these websites. [Read more…]

When rumors like these start flying, it’s normally a bad sign, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. The Social Network’s meteoric rise and subsequent decline in users to Facebook has created these rumors, but there are still strengths that can be exploited. If they are going to make it, they will need to make some changes, but more importantly, they will need to rethink their focus and reimpose their will through marketing-guided changes.

Instead of making it the easiest platform to spam and game, they need to appeal to their current best demographic, teens, pre- and post-, and create ways for them to stay with MySpace instead of defecting as they get older to Facebook or someone else. More importantly, they MUST expand to the business sector. Sounds ridiculous, I know, when you consider the current state of the company and the growing disdain towards its inner-workings. Stay with me while [Read more…]

A recent job posting by Microsoft is fueling speculation that they are positioning themselves to create a photo and video sharing platform to compete with the likes of Flickr and YouTube. The posting, which is available for viewing on the link to the story, is rather compelling evidence that we are beyond the idea stage and onto development.

You don’t put out job posts unless you are serious about making it happen, unless it’s a big fat smokescreen as they position themselves to buy out some other platform. Doubt that, but you never know. Microsoft has done wackier things over the years.